Old Fort Snelling, 1819-1858

by Marcus Lee Hansen

• Carver's Travels through the Interior Parts of North-America, pp. vii, viii.
• [1]
• To the region lying on the upper waters of three great river systems--the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, and the Red River of the North--the writer has applied the name “Upper Northwest” to distinguish it from the “Old Northwest” and the “Pacific Northwest”.
• [2]
• For a summary of the French explorations see Folwell's Minnesota, pp. 1–29. Thwaites's France in America, p. 74, contains an excellent map of the French operations in the West.
• [3]
• The report of Louis Antoine Bougainville, written in 1757 and based on the reports of Canadian officials, shows the extent of French commerce at the close of the period of French control. At Green Bay (La Baye) trade was carried on with the Folles-Avoines, Sacs, Foxes, Sioux, and other tribes, the annual output being from five to six hundred packages of furs. In the North, extending westward along what is now the international boundary to the Lake of the Woods and then along the lakes and rivers of the Lake Winnipeg system, was the territory of the post known as “The Sea of the West”. This included seven forts and produced a yearly supply of from three to four hundred packages. “These regions are everywhere vast prairies; this is the route to take for the upper Missouri.”--Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XVIII, pp. 167–195. A picturesque account of the life of the French traders is given in Neill's The History of Minnesota (Fourth Edition), pp. 115–119.
• [4]
• Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XVIII, p. 251; Turner's The Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in Wisconsin in the Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Vol. IX, pp. 584, 585.
• [5]
• Thwaites's Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Vol. VII, p. 373. In 1792, Peter Grant built a trading house on the site of St. Vincent, Minnesota, on the east bank of the Red River, and in 1800–1801 the fort of Pembina was erected by the great traveller, Alexander Henry, the younger.--South Dakota Historical Collections, Vol. I, p. 138.
• [6]
• American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 684.
• [7]
• Thwaites's Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Vol. I, pp. 227, 228. Traders of the Hudson's Bay Company also frequented the spot. Sergeant John Ordway records in his journal for December 1, 1804, that “a Scotsman who is tradeing at the Mandens came to visit us. he belonged to the hudson bay company.… he brought over Tobacco Beeds & other kinds of Goods. & traded with the Mandens for their furs & buffalow Robes. they bring Some Guns to trade for horses &C. this hudsons bay comp^y lay Garrisoned near the N. W. Comp^y.… Eight or 10 days travel by land a North course from this.”--Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XXII, p. 169.
• [8]
• Chittenden's The History of the American Fur Trade of the Far West, Vol. II, p. 556.
• [9]
• Coues's The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, Vol. I, pp. 279, 280.
• [10]
• Coues's The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, Vol. I, p. 286.
• [11]
• Coues's The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, Vol. I, p. 280.
• [12]
• Coues's The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, Vol. I, p. 156.
• [13]
• Coues's The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, Vol. I, p. 171.
• [14]
• Coues's The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, Vol. I, p. 252.
• [15]
• Wilkinson's instructions to Pike are printed in Coues's The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, Vol. II, pp. 842–844. Before the founding of Fort Snelling the Minnesota River was called by the French voyageurs the “St. Pierre”. When the Americans were established on its banks they anglicized this name into “St. Peter's”. The fort, the agency, and the fur traders' establishment are commonly referred to in early literature as “St. Peter's”. By a joint resolution of Congress on June 19, 1852, the name Minnesota was ordered to be used in all public documents in which the river was mentioned. This was the Indian name for the river.--United States Statutes at Large, Vol. X, p. 147. In mentioning this river use is made in this volume of the modern name, except when quoting.
• [16]
• The account of the treaty is given in Coues's The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, Vol. I, pp. 83, 84. The treaty itself is printed on page 231 and Pike's speech on pages 226–230. Article I contains the land cession: “That the Sioux nation grant unto the United States, for the purpose of establishment of military posts, nine miles square at the mouth of the St. Croix, also from below the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Peters up the Mississippi to include the falls of St. Anthony, extending nine miles on each side of the river, that the Sioux nation grants to the United States the full sovereignty and power over said district forever.” The meaning of all this is extremely vague.
• [17]
• American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 798.
• [18]
• Publications of the Canadian Archives, No. 7, Documents Relating to the Invasion of Canada and the Surrender of Detroit, 1812, pp. 11, 13.
• [19]
• A petition of the London merchants to the English government stated that before the war the annual export of furs from Canada amounted to £250,000. Updyke's The Diplomacy of the War of 1812, p. 204.
• [20]
• Publications of the Canadian Archives, No. 7, Documents Relating to the Invasion of Canada and the Surrender of Detroit, 1812, pp. 72, 73.
• [21]
• Publications of the Canadian Archives, No. 7, Documents Relating to the Invasion of Canada and the Surrender of Detroit, 1812, pp. 66–69. The figures are given on page 69.
• [22]
• Publications of the Canadian Archives, No. 7, Documents Relating to the Invasion of Canada and the Surrender of Detroit, 1812, p. 184.
• [23]
• The best account of the massacre at Fort Dearborn is given in Quaife's Chicago and the Old Northwest, 1673–1835, pp. 211–231.
• [24]
• Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIX, p. 323.
• [25]
• Coues's The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, Vol. I, pp. 120, 194.
• [26]
• Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, Vol. XV, p. 219. It must be stated that the British in no way sought intentionally to use the Indians for the purpose of massacreing the whites. The instructions to Dickson declared that he “should restrain them by all the means in your power from acts of Cruelty and inhumanity”. On March 16, 1813, Dickson reported to the military secretary at Quebec that he had taken steps to redeem the soldiers, women, and children of the ill-fated Fort Dearborn garrison, who were still captives.--Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, Vol. XV, pp. 258, 259.
• [27]
• Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, Vol. XV, pp. 321, 322.
• [28]
• There is a summary of Dickson's activities in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XII, pp. 133–153.
• [29]
• Niles' Register, Vol. VI, p. 176.
• [30]
• Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, p. 10; Niles' Register, Vol. VI, p. 242.
• [31]
• Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XI, pp. 254–270.
• [32]
• Treaties and Conventions concluded between the United States of America and other powers since July 4, 1776, pp. 404, 405.
• [33]
• American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. II, pp. 10, 11; Chittenden's The History of the American Fur Trade of the Far West, Vol. II, p. 561.
• [34]
• These treaties were concluded: on July 18th with the Pottawattomies and Piankashaws; on July 19th with the Tetons and Sioux of the Lakes, Sioux of St. Peter's River, and Yankton Sioux; September 2nd with the Kickapoos; September 8th with the Wyandots; September 12th with the Osages; September 13th with the Sacs of the Missouri; September 14th with the Foxes; September 16th with the Iowas. The treaties are published in Kappler's Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties, Vol. II, pp. 110–123. The reports of the commissioners and also the treaties are printed in the American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. II, pp. 1–11.
• [35]
• American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. II, p. 9.
• [36]
• For these migrations see the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, Vol. XXIII, pp. 97, 443; Kingsford's The History of Canada, Vol. IX, p. 69; Report on Canadian Archives, 1896, p. 157. During the negotiations at Ghent the British commissioners had sought to have established a permanent Indian territory to be a barrier state between the two powers.--Updyke's The Diplomacy of the War of 1812, p. 204.
• The Indians felt they had been abandoned by the English. Hence the liberality in gift distribution was an attempt to appease them.
• [37]
• See the reports of W. H. Puthuff in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIX, pp. 430–433, 472–474.
• [38]
• Schoolcraft's Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes, p. 19.
• [39]
• Irving's The Sketch-Book (Hudson Edition), p. 489.
• [40]
• Carr's Missouri, p. 121.
• [41]
• Niles' Register, Vol. VIII, p. 436, August 19, 1815.
• [42]
• American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. II, p. 86.
• [43]
• United States Statutes at Large, Vol. III, p. 332. John Jacob Astor of the American Fur Company has received the credit for the passage of this law.--Folwell's Minnesota, p. 54; Coman's Economic Beginnings of the Far West, Vol. I, pp. 344, 345. This is neglecting the fact that there was a unanimous outcry against foreign traders--one of the signs that the War of 1812 marks the rise of American nationality. The legislation of April 29, 1816, was not wholly satisfactory to Astor. “I have seen a letter”, wrote William H. Puthuff, Indian agent at Mackinac, “addressed by J. J. Astor to a Mr. Franks a British trader now at this place in which Mr. Astor expresses surprise and regret at the passage of a law forbidding British subjects from trading with Indians, within the American limits etc.”--Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIX, p. 423. What Mr. Astor wanted was the prohibition of trade by American private citizens as well as by British private citizens. If his American Fur Company were given a monopoly as he desired, he also wanted to be free to employ such persons--American or British--as he needed.
• [44]
• Or, more correctly from the point where a north and south line drawn through the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods would intersect this parallel.--Treaties and Conventions concluded between the United States of America and other powers since July 4, 1776, p. 416.
• [45]
• Treaties and Conventions concluded between the United States of America and other powers since July 4, 1776, p. 377.
• [46]
• Coues's The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, Vol. I, p. 279.
• [47]
• Niles' Register, Vol. XIV, pp. 387–389.
• [48]
• There is an excellent account of the United States trading house system in Quaife's Chicago and the Old Northwest, 1673–1835, pp. 289–309.
• [49]
• Coues's The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, Vol. I, p. 228.
• [50]
• American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. II, p. 6.
• [51]
• Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XX, p. 39.
• [52]

CHAPTER II

• For the erection of these posts see Quaife's Chicago and the Old Northwest, 1673–1835, p. 265; Thwaites's Wisconsin, pp. 180–182; Gue's History of Iowa, Vol. I, pp. 137, 138.
• [53]
• American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. I, p. 669.
• [54]
• Major Long's journal is printed in the Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. II, pp. 9–88.
• [55]
• Niles' Register, Vol. XIV, p. 192.
• [56]
• American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. I, p. 779.
• [57]
• Neill's The History of Minnesota (Fourth Edition), p. 319.
• [58]
• American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. II, p. 32.
• [59]
• The story of the Yellowstone Expedition is narrated in detail in Chittenden's The History of the American Fur Trade of the Far West, Vol. II, pp. 562–587. See also the preface to James's Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains in Thwaites's Early Western Travels, Vol. XIV, pp. 9–26. For the site of this fort see Thwaites's Early Western Travels, Vol. XXII, p. 275, note 231.
• [60]
• Executive Documents, 1st Session, 34th Congress, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Document No. 1, p. 21.
• [61]
• Leavenworth's A Genealogy of the Leavenworth Family in the United States, p. 152.
• [62]
• Van Cleve's “Three Score Years and Ten,” Life-Long Memories of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, p. 7.
• [63]
• In the Detroit Gazette, February 18, 1820, Vol. III, No. 135, there is reprinted from the National Intelligencer an “Extract of a letter from a gentleman of the expedition to the Falls of St. Anthony, to his friend in Washington, dated Cantonment of the 5th regt. U. S. Infantry, St. Peter's River, Nov. 10, 1819.” It is from this letter that the dates of arriving at and leaving the various places are taken. The Adjutant General in an order praised the garrison at Fort Howard “for the economy and expedition with which the command constructed transport boats for the accommodation of the 5th regiment in its passage to the Mississippi.”--Detroit Gazette, September 10, 1819.
• [64]
• Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. V, p. 96, note. Mrs. Van Cleve gives another version of this affair: “When all was in order, Colonel Leavenworth stepped forth, and, through an interpreter, formally requested of the Chief permission to pass peaceably through their country. The Chief, a very handsome young brave, advanced, and, with his right arm uncovered, said, with most expressive gestures: 'My brother, do you see the calm, blue sky above us? Do you see the lake that lies so peacefully at our feet? So calm, so peaceful are our hearts towards you. Pass on!'”--Van Cleve's “Three Score Years and Ten,” Life-Long Memories of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, p. 11.
• That these Indians were not so friendly as this account would indicate is apparent from the statement in Major Forsyth's narrative that Captain Whistler of Fort Howard had been fired at, at different times during the summer of 1819 by these Winnebagoes.--Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. III, p. 167.
• [65]
• Major Forsyth's narrative, covering the time from his departure from St. Louis on June 7th until his arrival there again on September 17th, is published in the Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. III, pp. 139–167; also in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. VI, pp. 188–219. It is from this narrative that the facts regarding the progress of the expedition were obtained.
• [66]
• Major Forsyth's narrative in the Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. III, pp. 147, 148, 149.
• [67]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. III, p. 149; Van Cleve's “Three Score Years and Ten,” Life-Long Memories of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, p. 15.
• [68]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. III, pp. 149–153, 159. Mrs. Van Cleve says that a few days were spent on the shores of Lake Pepin.--Van Cleve's “Three Score Years and Ten,” Life-Long Memories of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, p. 16. Mrs. Ellet in her sketch of Mrs. Clark says a week was spent at this place.--Ellet's Pioneer Women of the West, p. 350.
• [69]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. III, pp. 153, 154. Neill records that the troops did not reach the Minnesota River “until September”.--Neill's The History of Minnesota (Fourth Edition), p. 320. But in Appendix L., p. 891, he gives the same dates as Forsyth. In Folwell's Minnesota, p. 55, the statement is made that “the command arrived at Mendota August 23”. As the main body of soldiers did not arrive until August 24th, this latter date should be taken as the birthday of Fort Snelling.
• [70]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. III, pp. 154–157; Detroit Gazette, October 22, 1819, February 18, 1820.
• [71]
• Detroit Gazette, February 18, 1820.
• [72]
• Van Cleve's “Three Score Years and Ten,” Life-Long Memories of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, pp. 18, 19. The baby was Charlotte Ouisconsin Clark who married General Horatio P. Van Cleve. In 1888 she published a book of reminiscences. It possesses all the merits and defects of a book of reminiscences--vividness of pictures--inaccuracy in regard to specific facts.
• [73]
• Ellet's Pioneer Women of the West, p. 351; Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 48.
• [74]
• Mrs. Van Cleve, who received her information from her father, gives the number as forty.--Van Cleve's “Three Score Years and Ten,” Life-Long Memories of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, p. 19. James Doty, who kept the official journal of the Cass Expedition of 1820, and who received his information from the officers at Camp Cold Water, gives the number as forty.--Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, p. 214. Philander Prescott in his reminiscences states that “Some fifty or sixty had died, and some ten men died after I arrived”.--Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 478. L. Grignon wrote on April 3, 1820, that “They tell me that fifty Soldiers of the river St. Pierre have died of Scurvy”.--Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XX, p. 161.
• In writing of the attack of scurvy Mr. H. H. Sibley remarks: “It was doubtless caused by the bad quality of the provisions, especially of the pork, which was spoiled by the villany of the contractors, or their agents, in drawing the brine from the barrels that contained it, after leaving St. Louis, in order to lighten the load, and causing the barrels to be refilled with river water, before their delivery at the post, to avoid detection. The troops were compelled to live on this unwholesome fare for two successive seasons, before the fraud was discovered.”--Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. I, pp. 473, 474. Nowhere else is this explanation given. Sickness could easily come at a frontier post without such villainy. During the same winter at Camp Missouri over half of the garrison of seven hundred men were sick, and nearly one hundred of them died. At Council Bluff there was also a great deal of sickness.--Detroit Gazette, July 21, September 1, 1820.
• [75]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. I, p. 473.
• [76]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 103.
• [77]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, pp. 478, 479.
• [78]
• Reports of Committees, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Report No. 351, p. 136.
• [79]
• These facts are from the reminiscences of Philander Prescott in the Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, pp. 478, 479.
• [80]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 105.
• [81]
• Snelling to Taliaferro, November 7, 1821.--Taliaferro Letters, Vol. I, No. 30.
• [82]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 107. Mrs. Van Cleve states that the fort was occupied in the fall of 1821.--Van Cleve's “Three Score Years and Ten,” Life-Long Memories of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, p. 32.
• [83]
• Indian Office Files, 1830, No. 153.
• [84]
• Schoolcraft's Narrative Journal of Travels from Detroit Northwest through the Great Chain of American Lakes to the sources of the Mississippi River, pp. 292–315. The official journal was kept by James Doty. The time spent with Leavenworth's troops is described in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, pp. 212–216.
• [85]
• Captain Kearny's journal is printed in the Missouri Historical Society Collections, Vol. III, pp. 8–29, 99–131. Pages 104–110 are devoted to the time spent at Camp Cold Water.
• [86]
• These facts regarding the change of the name are taken from Upham's The Women and Children of Fort St. Anthony, Later named Fort Snelling in the Magazine of History, Vol. XXI, pp. 38, 39. Dr. Upham received his information from a letter from the Adjutant General of the United States.
• [87]

CHAPTER III

• See Miss Gallaher's article on The Military-Indian Frontier 1830–1835 in The Iowa Journal of History and Politics, Vol. XV, pp. 393–428.
• [88]
• Langham to Taliaferro, August 19, 1820.--Taliaferro Letters, Vol. I, No. 62.
• [89]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 117.
• [90]
• Neill's The History of Minnesota (Fourth Edition), p. 901.
• [91]
• Marsh to Taliaferro, June 26, 1827.--Taliaferro Letters, Vol. I, No. 76.
• [92]
• This was the opening of the Winnebago War, often called the “Red Bird War”. Accounts of it are given in William Joseph Snelling's Early Days at Prairie du Chien in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. V, pp. 144–153; and State Papers, 1st Session, 20th Congress, Vol. I, Document No. 1, pp. 150–163.
• [93]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 118.
• [94]
• For the movement of troops see State Papers, 1st Session, 20th Congress, Vol. I, Document No. 1, pp. 150–163.
• [95]
• Taliaferro to Cass, October 4, 1832.--Indian Office Files, 1832, No. 226.
• [96]
• Executive Documents, 2nd Session, 30th Congress, Vol. I, Document No. 1, pp. 439, 440, 459; Neill's The History of Minnesota (Fourth Edition), pp. 483–487.
• [97]
• For an account of the Winnebagoes and their many migrations see Jackson's A Century of Dishonor, pp. 218–256.
• [98]
• Executive Documents, 1st Session, 31st Congress, Vol. III, Pt. 2, Document No. 5, pp. 1028, 1029; The Minnesota Pioneer, September 13, 1849.
• [99]
• The Minnesota Pioneer, November 28, December 12, 1849.
• [100]
• Executive Documents, 1st Session, 32nd Congress, Vol. II, Pt. 3, Document No. 2, p. 421. “The recent arrival at Fort Snelling of a company of dragoons, so long wanted, will greatly assist in intercepting the migration southward of this discontented people.”--Report of Alexander Ramsey, October 21, 1850, in Senate Documents, 2nd Session, 31st Congress, Vol. I, Document No. 1, p. 81.
• [101]
• This reservation was agreed upon by the treaty concluded at Washington, D. C., on February 27, 1855; Kappler's Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties, Vol. II, pp. 690–693.
• [102]
• Senate Documents, 2nd Session, 28th Congress, Vol. I, Document No. 1, pp. 316, 423.
• [103]
• Bryce's The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company, pp. 365–372. A description of a hunt, written in French by Rev. M. Belcourt, is given in Executive Documents, 1st Session, 31st Congress, Vol. VIII, Document No. 51, pp. 44–52.
• [104]
• Executive Documents, 1st Session, 31st Congress, Vol. VIII, Document No. 51, p. 4.
• [105]
• This was during the period that Professor William A. Dunning describes as “The Roaring Forties”. “And the far flung interests of the British Empire need no more striking illustration than the fact that in whatever direction the Americans sought to expand their bounds, whether on the Atlantic or on the Pacific, in the Gulf of the tropics or under the Arctic circle, they found subjects of the Queen, with vested rights, opposing the movement.”--Dunning's The British Empire and the United States, pp. 96, 97.
• [106]
• Captain Sumner's report is printed in the Executive Documents, 1st Session, 29th Congress, Vol. I, Document No. 2, pp. 217–220. It is reprinted with explanatory notes in The Iowa Journal of History and Politics, Vol. XI, pp. 258–267.
• [107]
• The report of Major Woods is printed in Executive Documents, 1st Session, 31st Congress, Vol. VIII, Document No. 51. It contains fifty-five pages. Accompanying the expedition was John Pope, Brevet Captain of the Topographical Engineers. His report is published in Senate Documents, 1st Session, 31st Congress, Vol. X, Document No. 42. There is an excellent map attached to the report.
• [108]
• Colonel Smith's report is printed in the Executive Documents, 2nd Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Pt. II, Document No. 1, pp. 426–454.
• [109]
• Ansel Briggs to the Secretary of War.--Indian Office Files, 1849, No. 206. The petition was dated Washington, Iowa, July 31, 1849.--Indian Office Files, 1849, No. 208.
• [110]
• Major Woods's report is found in the Indian Office Files, 1849, No. 174.
• [111]
• The Minnesota Pioneer, April 3, 1850.
• [112]
• The Minnesota Pioneer, May 16, 1850.
• [113]
• See the letter of William Hutchinson, who was one of the party. It is published in The Minnesota Pioneer, June 13, 1850. “Iowa City looks as it did five years ago”, he wrote. “A few houses were built since that time; but evidently were not the capitol located at this place, it would be no great shakes, though in time it is bound to come out. Some years since, Uncle Sam erected expensive bridges for the good citizens of Iowa, betwixt Dubuque and Iowa City; and strange to say the people are suffering them to rot down without covering them. Iowa City has grown in ten years as large as Saint Paul, which is not 2 years old. Steamboats often get up to this place, but all will not suffice.”
• [114]
• Report of Major Woods.--Indian Office Files, 1850, No. 363.
• [115]
• The Iowa Star (Fort Des Moines), July 18, 1850.
• [116]
• The Annals of Iowa (First Series), Vol. VII, pp. 284, 285.
• “Part of Company D. 1st regiment of U. S. Dragoons under command of Lieut. Gardner passed through here on their way to the Missouri river. We understand they intend to pay a visit to the Indian tribes on the upper Missouri and from thence across Minnesota Territory to their quarters at Ft. Snelling.”--Quoted from the Fort Des Moines Gazette in the Miners' Express (Dubuque), September 4, 1850. The return of the troops to Fort Snelling is noted in The Minnesota Pioneer, October 3, 1850.
• [117]
• Executive Documents, 1st Session, 32nd Congress, Vol. II, Pt. 3, Document No. 2, p. 284. An account of the journey is printed in The Minnesota Pioneer, February 12, 1852.
• [118]
• Asa Whitney, a New York merchant, petitioned Congress in January, 1845, for a franchise and a grant of land to make this dream a reality.--Congressional Globe, 2nd Session, 28th Congress, pp. 218, 219.
• [119]
• Act of March 3, 1853.--United States Statutes at Large, Vol. X, p. 219.
• [120]
• Executive Documents, 2nd Session, 33rd Congress, Document No. 91, pp. 1, 13, 74.
• [121]
• Executive Documents, 1st Session, 36th Congress, Document No. 56, p. 36; Post Returns, May, 1853, in the archives of the War Department, Washington, D. C.
• [122]
• A brief account of the expedition is given in Paxson's The Last American Frontier, pp. 197–203. The reports of all the surveys were published by the government. That of Governor Stevens consists of 651 pages, added to the report of the Secretary of War, published in Executive Documents, 2nd Session, 33rd Congress, Document No. 91. In 1859 Governor Stevens submitted a Narrative and Final Report, published in two parts in the Executive Documents, 1st Session, 36th Congress, Document No. 56. The various reports of all the explorers are bound in a set of twelve volumes, in which Governor Stevens's first account may be found in Vol. I, and the later narrative in Vol. XII, Pts. I and II.
• [123]
• Order No. 7 stated: “It is considered of great consequence that the several trains should not be intermingled; and the dragoons attached to the several parties will continue with them, camping and working with them, receiving their orders only from their particular chiefs, even when the whole force is brought together.”--Executive Documents, 2nd Session, 33rd Congress, Document No. 91, p. 46.
• [124]
• Executive Documents, 2nd Session, 28th Congress, Vol. I, Document No. 2, p. 112.
• [125]
• Kappler's Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties, Vol. II, p. 566.
• [126]
• Kappler's Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties, Vol. II, pp. 567–570.
• [127]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. X, Pt. I, p. 181.
• [128]
• Executive Documents, 2nd Session, 30th Congress, Vol. I, Document No. 1, p. 161.
• [129]
• Senate Documents, 1st Session, 31st Congress, Vol. I, Document No. 1, pp. 180–183.
• [130]
• The Minnesota Pioneer, July 19, 1849.
• [131]
• The Minnesota Pioneer, September 6, 1849, July 11, November 21, 1850.
• [132]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. X, Pt. I, pp. 193, 199.
• [133]
• Kappler's Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties, Vol. II, pp. 588–593.
• [134]
• Holcombe's Minnesota in Three Centuries, Vol. II, pp. 327, 328; Annals of Iowa (First Series), Vol. VII, p. 290; Post Returns, March, April, 1853, in the archives of the War Department, Washington, D. C.
• [135]
• For Colonel Smith's expedition see above, Note 109. For the building of Fort Abercrombie see the Collections of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, Vol. II, Pt. II, p. 7.
• [136]
• Reports of Committees, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Report No. 351, pp. 10–12.
• [137]
• Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Pt. III, p. 2595.
• [138]
• For the sale of Fort Snelling see Dr. Folwell's paper on The Sale of Fort Snelling, 1857, in the Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. XV, pp. 393–410.
• [139]
• The report of the committee may be found in Reports of Committees, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Report No. 351.
• [140]
• Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Pt. III, p. 2614.
• [141]
• Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Pt. III, p. 2618.
• [142]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VIII, p. 431.
• [143]
• For papers relating to the readjustment see Executive Documents, 3rd Session, 40th Congress, Vol. VII, Document No. 9.
• [144]

CHAPTER IV

• Quoted in Williams's A History of the City of Saint Paul, pp. 58, 59.
• [145]
• In the Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VIII, pp. 430, 431, there is a list of the commanding officers from September, 1819 to May, 1858.
• [146]
• For the life of Henry Leavenworth see the Kansas Historical Collections, Vol. VII, pp. 577, 578, Vol. IX, p. 569, Vol. XI, p. xxi; Powell's List of Officers of the Army of the United States, from 1779 to 1900, p. 428; Chittenden's The History of the American Fur Trade of the Far West, Vol. II, pp. 630–632; Leavenworth's A Genealogy of the Leavenworth Family in the United States, pp. 150–154.
• [147]
• American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 777.
• [148]
• Ellet's Pioneer Women of the West, pp. 310–323, contains a sketch of the activities of Captain Snelling during the war.
• [149]
• Ellet's Pioneer Women of the West, pp. 313, 314.
• [150]
• Ellet's Pioneer Women of the West, p. 316.
• [151]
• From the reminiscences of Mrs. Ann Adams in the Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, pp. 96, 97. Mrs. Adams, as a child, lived several years in the Snelling household.
• [152]
• Powell's List of Officers of the Army of the United States, from 1779 to 1900, p. 599; Ellet's Pioneer Women of the West, p. 334.
• [153]
• From a manuscript entitled “Remarks on General Wm. Hull's Memoirs of the Campaign of the Northwestern Army, 1812”, by Josiah Snelling.--Draper Collection, 8 U. 114, pp. 42, 43.
• [154]
• The Works of Daniel Webster, Vol. V, p. 410.
• [155]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VIII, pp. 440, 441.
• [156]
• See the sketch of Captain Scott in Van Cleve's “Three Score Years and Ten,” Life-Long Memories of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, pp. 28, 29.
• [157]
• Senate Documents, 1st Session, 30th Congress, Vol. I, Document No. 1, p. 367.
• [158]
• There is a sketch of Martin Scott in the Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. III, pp. 180–187, from which this story is taken.
• [159]
• Powell's List of Officers of the Army of the United States, from 1779 to 1900, p. 577.
• [160]
• Niles' Register, Vol. 73, p. 130.
• [161]
• The frontispiece of Mrs. Eastman's Dahcotah; or, Life and Legends of the Sioux around Fort Snelling was painted by Captain Eastman.
• [162]
• Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II, p. 292.
• [163]
• In his notes to Hiawatha Longfellow quotes from the introduction of Mrs. Eastman's book, p. ii.--Longfellow's Complete Poetical Works (Cambridge Edition), p. 666.
• [164]
• Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II, p. 292.
• [165]
• Powell's List of Officers of the Army of the United States, from 1779 to 1900, p. 449; Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VIII, p. 441.
• [166]
• The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. VIII, pp. 89, 90.
• [167]
• Rhodes's History of the United States, Vol. IV, p. 328.
• [168]
• The American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1863, p. 816.
• [169]
• Bancroft's History of Oregon, Vol. II, pp. 611, 612. For the career of General Canby see Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. I, pp. 517, 518.
• [170]
• This incident is taken from Folsom's Fifty Years in the Northwest, pp. 755, 756. Mr. Folsom says he took it “from a St. Paul paper of 1887”.
• [171]
• For the Dred Scott case see McMaster's A History of the People of the United States, Vol. VIII, pp. 278, 279.
• [172]
• United States Statutes at Large, Vol. I, p. 50.
• [173]
• United States Statutes at Large, Vol. IV, p. 564.
• [174]
• United States Statutes at Large, Vol. IV, pp. 729–739.
• [175]
• United States Statutes at Large, Vol. IX, p. 395.
• [176]
• Quoted from the complaint of the agent, Nathaniel McLean, September 25, 1850, in Senate Documents, 2nd Session, 31st Congress, Vol. I, Document No. 1, p. 106.
• [177]
• Auto-biography of Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro in the Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 249.
• [178]
• Auto-biography of Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro in the Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, pp. 253, 254.
• [179]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 353.
• [180]
• Taliaferro to Crawford, July 15, 1839.--Indian Office Files, 1839, No. 512.
• [181]
• These papers are in the possession of the Minnesota Historical Society. The dates covered in these diaries are from December, 1830, to June, 1831; May 25 to September 21, 1833; May 23 to August 28, 1834.
• [182]
• These letters are in the possession of the Minnesota Historical Society. In Volume I of these letters is the following notice: “These 326 letters, are part of the great mass of correspondence received by Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro, Indian Agent at Fort Snelling, 1819–1840. They constitute but a small part of his accumulations in twenty years. The rest were burned in his house at Bedford, Pa., in 18__. It was a great loss to us, as, had they been spared, we would have received all of them. But even these 326 contain a large amount of valuable material for Minnesota history. Even as autographs they are valuable, [see autobiography of Taliaferro, Vol. 6, Coll.] These letters were given by Maj. T. in March, 1868. Arranged, bound and indexed (by J. F. W.) 1891.”
• [183]
• Photostatic copies of many of these letters were taken and are to be found in the library of the Wisconsin Historical Society, where they were consulted.
• [184]
• These letter books are now in the possession of the Kansas State Historical Society at Topeka, where they were consulted. The only volume containing letters from Major Taliaferro is referred to as the William Clark Papers, Correspondence, 1830–1832.
• [185]
• Auto-biography of Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro in the Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 253.
• [186]
• Powell's List of Officers of the Army of the United States, from 1779 to 1900, p. 620. In the Taliaferro Letters are many letters from William Clark and Elbert Herring in which they address Mr. Taliaferro as “major”.
• [187]
• Taliaferro Letters, Vol. I, No. 11. A note on this letter gives these dates.
• [188]
• Nowhere is the date of his arrival at Fort Snelling given. In his autobiography he writes of his journey: “Jean Baptiste Faribault and family, had gone through by land, in charge of Colonel Leavenworth's horses and cows”.--Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 198. It was in the spring of 1820 that Faribault performed this service.--Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 103.
• [189]
• Clark to the Secretary of War, August 20, 1832.--Indian Office Files, 1832, No. 285. For his resignation see Indian Office Files, 1824, No. 39.
• [190]
• Taliaferro's Diary, March 24, 1831.
• [191]
• Taliaferro to Crawford, December 12, 1839.--Indian Office Files, 1839, No. 516.
• [192]
• Neill's The History of Minnesota (Fourth Edition), pp. 337–339.
• [193]
• In the report for 1850 the agency at St. Peter's is designated a “Sub-Agency”.--Senate Documents, 2nd Session, 31st Congress, Vol. I, Document No. 1, p. 103.
• [194]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. XII, pp. 339, 340.
• [195]
• Indian Office Files, 1834, No. 213, 1827, No. 54, 1843, No. 222.
• [196]
• Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. XII, p. 341.
• [197]

CHAPTER V

• See Notes on Canada and the North-West States of America in Blackwood's Magazine, Vol. LXXVIII, p. 323, September, 1855. These articles by Laurence Oliphant were later published in book form under the title of Minnesota and the Far West.
• [198]
• This is the height given in Nicollet's Report intended to illustrate a Map of the Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River, p. 69.
• [199]
• Seymour's Sketches of Minnesota, the New England of the West, p. 103.
• [200]
• This sketch of the fort is obtained from the map of Fort Snelling in the Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VIII, p. 431; and from a Report of the capacity and condition of the barracks, quarters, hospital, storehouses, &c., at Fort Snelling, Minnesota Territory, made to the Quartermaster General. This report was made on August 23, 1856. It is printed in Reports of Committees, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Report No. 351, pp. 407–409.
• [201]
• American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. IV, p. 122.
• [202]
• Latrobe's The Rambler in North America, Vol. II, p. 295.
• [203]
• A statement of the equipment at the various posts during the fourth quarter of 1834 is printed in the American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. V, p. 853–900.
• [204]
• Taliaferro to Lucas, September 30, 1839.--Indian Office Files, 1839, No. 492.
• [205]
• Indian Office Files, 1830, No. 153.
• [206]
• Taliaferro to William Clark, August 17, 1830.--Indian Office Files, 1830, No. 139.
• [207]
• Taliaferro's Diary, April 7, 1831.
• [208]
• Taliaferro's Diary, March 8, 1831.
• [209]
• Taliaferro to Lucas, September 30, 1839.--Indian Office Files, 1839, No. 492; Executive Documents, 3rd Session, 40th Congress, Vol. VII, Document No. 9, p. 19.
• [210]
• Indian Office Files, 1830, No. 153.
• [211]
• Indian Office Files, 1834, No. 207.
• [212]
• Indian Office Files, 1830, No. 153. In the Sibley House at Mendota is hung an oil painting of Fort Snelling made by Sergeant Thomas who was stationed at Fort Snelling sometime between 1836 and 1842. This painting, which was made from the hill behind Sibley House, shows the location of these various buildings.
• [213]
• For Baker's house see Executive Documents, 3rd Session, 40th Congress, Vol. VII, Document No. 9, pp. 19, 33, 34; also Reports of Committees, 1st session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Report No. 351, p. 400.
• [214]
• Latrobe's The Rambler in North America, Vol. II, pp. 295, 296. Charles Joseph Latrobe visited the post in the fall of 1833.
• [215]
• These buildings are shown in the picture mentioned in note 213, above.
• [216]
• There is a description of Mendota given in Seymour's Sketches of Minnesota, the New England of the West, pp. 101, 102.
• [217]
• Seymour's Sketches of Minnesota, the New England of the West, p. 117; Bishop's Floral Home; or, First Years of Minnesota, pp. 156, 157.
• [218]
• These figures are taken from Keating's Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River, Vol. I, p. 309.
• [219]
• Latrobe's The Rambler in North America, Vol. II, p. 302.
• [220]
• Executive Documents, 3rd Session, 40th Congress, Vol. VII, Document No. 9, pp. 37, 38; Reports of Committees, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Report No. 351, p. 148.
• [221]
• Upham's The Women and Children of Fort St. Anthony, later named Fort Snelling in The Magazine of History, Vol. XXI, p. 37.
• [222]
• See below, the chapter entitled Soldiers of the Cross.
• [223]
• This enumeration of the Indian villages is from Pond's The Dakotas or Sioux in Minnesota as they were in 1834 in the Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. XII, pp. 320–330. The spelling of the names follows that used by Pond, although they were all written in many ways. The population figures are from Taliaferro's report in 1834, found in Indian Office Files, 1834, No. 203.
• [224]
• See the description of an Indian village in Latrobe's The Rambler in North America, Vol. II, pp. 288, 289; also, Keating's Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River, Vol. I, pp. 342, 343.
• [225]

CHAPTER VI